My background is back! Artist Collaboration with Tiffany

Hem your blessing Artful Journeys Prompt #11

New Mugs for me! Using DecoArts Americana Glossy Enamel paints, Mod stencil and tools

The 1st in my collection from my Granny

I have some teapots that I love sooo much! The collection was started when my Granny gave me the first one, since then my Mum and my hubs have given me a few and I have gotten a couple for myself, I don't have a lot of them but I have always loved to look at them.

My pretty orange nook 

I think my favorite part is that they are perfectly imperfect. they have beautiful designs in gold with enamel paint in added touches, the enamel is not perfect within the design and is always a reminder to me that art is not exact.


I love them so much that I decided to make my kitchen colors reflect the teapots, oranges and greens with contrast of dark brown.



Because of the color combination whenever I went looking for items to match my kitchen I usually only found fall or Thanksgiving themed items so I have had to make a lot of my decor myself.

I have been looking for a while for some cute coffee mugs that I could put out on my coffee bar that would match but had not found anything that I liked enough to buy so I made due with a jumble of mugs, most of them I have had since my 1st apartment!

In the past I have made mugs for other people and I decided now was the time to be selfish and make something for me! 

My tools

I went to a Dollar Store (I am so cheap) and bought 4 mugs, 2 in green and 2 in brown and got some DecoArt Americana Glossy Enamels one of their sticky back stencil sets, the set called Mod, and a packet of tools, the palette knives and wedge sponges and I also used a paint brush I already had on hand.
















I used stencils for 2 of the mugs. To apply the paint I used the wedge sponge for 1 and the palette knife for the other. 

Paint applied with sponge

Paint applied with palette knife 

I was far from tedious with the application of the paint because I wanted them imperfect to match the rest of my kitchen!


With the remaining 2 mugs I applied the paint using a paint brush, the paint is thick and applies beautifully, for heavier coverage a 2nd coat is all that is needed. I decided to do a simple flower design on the one and a simple doodle design on the other.

Simple flowers

Simple doodles

Love Love Love!

I decided to make the matching point the color and not the design because even with my teapots the designs are not all the same, I also didn't want anything too intricate because I my home is very informal, decorated odd knickknacks, antiques, art and my barbies, Yes I am an adult with barbies!

I think I may need to make more mugs!

I love how my new mugs look on my coffee bar in the kitchen, ready for anyone to grab a cup and get caffeinated!

The "Coffee I Love You" was purchased and given to me as a gift, the "Bird in Cup" mixed media on canvas is one of my original works, The large painting of my cat "Mina" is and original acrylic on canvas painted by my cousin from Art by Bea on Facebook, the small photo in the lower right is an altered photo "Birds". Both Bird in cup and Birds are available in my Society6 store.






If you would like to see the video of the process here you go!

Big Hugs!!! 

- Shana Banana

$6 and 10 minutes Christmas wreath!

Yes, I admit it! I am cheap! I rarely buy anything with out a coupon or a sale. I wanted a wreath for my house but realized I refused to pay what was being charged for the ones I liked!



I had to go to a dollar store for a different project I am working on and saw the Christmas decorations and got inspired! This wreath turned out better than I thought it would and looks totally adorable on my house!



Best yet, I used no glue! Glue can be used if you want but my wreath is sheltered enough that I think it will be secure!



I hope you enjoy!!



Big Hugs and Mushy Stuff

- Shana

A Collaboration with Tiffany from Southern Gals Design!

Oh My Gosh!! How fun is this going to be! I am doing a collaboration with Tiffany from Southern Gals Designs! We will be making 2 Journal pages total.

Today we are both posting our videos for our backgrounds, which we will mail out, we will the pages a few times recording out process as we go, so we both end up with an awesome journal page to add to our journals! I am so excited!!!! I hope you follow along and I will post at least a quick blog with a link to both whenever we publish!

I cant wait to see what we end up with!

I had so much fun playing but I had such a hard time letting go! I love this background! Using both brushes and my fingers in my watercolor palate, using my favorite stencils, some Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel medium, Acrylic craft paints, and dylusions sprays, do you know what that creates!?

The Perfect Monday!

I hope you enjoy watching the fun I got to have!!

here is my background video

And to see what I'll be working with Click this HERE to see her video! 

She said she will be posting a blog tonight so go check her out at SouthernGalsDesign!

Big Hugs and Mushy Stuff!

Shana Banana!

Inspired by Bird Wall Hanging Mixed Media Tutorial

I had some fun using a Video from Tiffany from Southern Gals Design for inspiration, she did a whimy bird wall hanging that was ADORABLE and since I had some plaques collecting dust I decided to do one in my style! Hope you enjoy and go on over and check hers out! The way she does her backgrounds is inspiration in itself and I only hope I can someday make one like hers! Big hugs and love!!

Inspiration - Pick a Decade - Artful Journeys Week #45

It has definitely been a while since my last blog post! I have been leaving the Journal prompts to be posted on the Artful Chicks blog, so if you would like to see some of the past weekly and pop-up prompts go over to Artful Chicks to check them out !

This weeks Prompt is Pick a decade! I kind of got an awesome 2-fer out of this one because I also played with a new medium, Chalk pastels.

How awesome are these things!!!

I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful set of handmade chalk Pastels gifted to me by the main admin and a dear sweet friend whom I love and adore, in the Artful Journeys Betty ( AKA Arty Auntie.)







I was so excited to try them out that I decided to put the time to good use and play with them for my prompt this week! For my paper I used Canson Mi-Teintes 98 lbs Pastel Paper and I used no tools other than my fingers for smudging.

This is the 1st ineteration of my flapper girl, but the more I looked at her the more I saw there wasn't any real contrast.




















 So I went back in and added more depth into her face, hair and the scarf on her head, even after adding more highlights and shadows she still seemed so bland, so I changed up the background using the color form her eyes to add some pop.When I was satisfied with the look I did an even coat of Aqua-net Hairspray since I am out of workable fixative. SO I would have the pastels rubbing off in my journal.























 I found an awesome quote from F.Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby Girls that totally fit the attitude on my girls face and wrote it using my Prismacolor Chisel tip and brush tip pens in black.






















I thought it needed a bit of sparkle so I went in with my Martha Stewart Glitter glues in Sugar Cube, Hematite and Candy Apple to add some sparkly details.

I then tipped the original girl into my junk journal with washi tape and Golden Matte medium for extra hold.

I hope you enjoyed my process overview! and please let me know is you have any questions that I didn't address. For your convenience I have added a link for every product mentioned throughout.

Big Hugs and Mushy Stuff!!

Shana Banana